


Coming Home

by NCC1701



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-10
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-17 04:45:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3515819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NCC1701/pseuds/NCC1701
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Belle leaves the Dark Castle and has her adventure, she actually makes it back to the Dark Castle instead of becoming prisoner to the Evil Queen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> I thought Rumbelle needed something like this after this weeks heartbreaking episode. There will be at least one more chapter. This does not have a beta, so please excuse any mistakes.

“I’m coming back Rumple.” I’m coming home. She added in her mind, stepping back from the overlook of the village below. She didn’t know when she had begun to think of the Dark Castle as home between being cast out and deciding to return, but then she supposed it had started before then. It had just taken her until now to admit it. 

She reached inside her bodice for the necklace that always hung around her neck, largely forgotten most of the time due to its almost unnaturally light weight. Rumpelstiltskin had given it to her after she had been kidnapped by Maleficent. All she had to do was hold the small golden pendant in her fist and imagine herself standing in the great hall of the Dark Castle, and it would take her home. 

He had told her it was to help protect what was his, so that he wouldn’t have to go chasing off after her to save her from the witches clutches. She didn’t believe that was his only motivation, but it did make her wonder. He would have had to trust that Belle even wanted to return to the Dark Castle in order for the necklace to work. At the time she had decided that it must have been a chance to choose between the lesser of two evils, if it ever came down to being held prisoner by an enemy of Rumpelstiltskin or Rumpelstiltskin himself. 

She looked down at the necklace in her hand, admiring it as it reflected the soft light of the moon. The pendant was a small, simple ring of gold, hanging on an impossibly delicate gold chain that had reminded her of spider silk when Rumple had given it to her. He had assured her it wouldn’t break when she had voiced her concerns, but Belle hadn’t been so sure. The small pendant looked almost too heavy for the chain, but true to Rumpelstiltskin’s word, it never broke. 

After thinking for a moment, Belle smiled as she decided on a memory of the great hall, bringing the image to the front of her mind. It was one of her favorite memories, a roaring fire blazing in the large hearth, casting the hall in a warm light as the heat of the flames chased away the damp chill of winter. It had been late evening, after all of her chores were done, and she sat curled up with a book on the chaise that Rumpelstiltskin had provided for her. 

“I’ll not have my maid sprawled on the floor like a dog,” He had explained upon its discovery, after Belle had taken to sitting beside the hearth on the floor to read in the evenings.  
Belle had tried her best to keep the knowing smile from turning into a grin as she nodded. 

It had come to be her favorite spot in the castle, and on that evening Rumple sat at his wheel, quietly spinning as Belle read. He had been appearing there more often in the evenings, instead of keeping himself locked away in his tower. They mostly sat in comfortable silence, sometimes speaking together in soft tones, usually started by Rumple asking about her reading. 

On that night her book had just come to an end, and Belle remembered soft tears rolling down her cheeks as she closed the book. She hadn’t noticed that the rhythmic creak of the wheel had fallen still until movement had caught her eye in front of her. She looked up to find Rumpelstiltskin standing a few feet away from her, his face a jumble of emotion. Confusion creased his brow, pulling his eyebrows together, and his mouth was set in a firm line of concern and caution. His eyes held a skittish fear, like a feral animal that had yet to decide if it should turn tail and run, and he held his hands with open palms turned towards her, as if he were afraid of upsetting her further. 

The entire display brought a small smile to her lips, which only seemed to alarm the Dark One more.

“Why are you crying?” He asked hesitantly, clearly far beyond his comfort zone. His voice was pitched low, no sign of the mocking twitter he so favored on most occasions. He had been dropping it more and more around Belle. 

“It was a good book.” She had to keep herself from laughing as the statement only deepened the lines of confusion on his face. “The ending was sad, but in a bitter sweet sort of way…” She continued, though her words didn’t do it justice. 

This seemed to placate Rumpelstiltskin, and he finally nodded, stepping forward and producing a red silk handkerchief. He offered it to Belle, his movements still hesitant but without the edge of panic from before. Belle took it with a smile of thanks, and tried to hide her surprise when Rumpelstiltskin perched himself at the end of the chaise at her feet, still poised to take flight at the slightest provocation. 

Rumpelstiltskin kept his eyes trained on the dancing flames of the fire as Belle watched him, both silent as Belles tears quickly faded. 

“Would you like to read it?” She asked suddenly, a bit shocked at her own voice as she lifted the book and held it out to him. Rumpelstiltskin turned to her, giving her a questioning look of surprise, but eventually taking the offered book with a small nod. He studied the cover for a long moment before slowly rising to his feet, opening the book to glance through the pages as he did. Belle held out the handkerchief but he simply shook his head as he stepped away, not back to his wheel but instead to the large wingback arm chair that sat across from Belle’s chaise. 

He hesitated only briefly before sitting down, opening the book to its beginning. 

They had remained sitting in the hall late into the night, Belle content to sit and watch the fire, occasionally stealing glances at Rumple as he read. 

When she had risen to retire for the night, Rumple glanced up to bid her a quiet good night before returning to the book. She had found the book returned to her the next morning at the foot of her bed. 

Now, standing in the forest with the memory glowing at the fore front of her mind, Belle smiled and moved to close her fist around the small ring of gold that would take her home.  
But before she could do so, a large hand reached from the darkness and painfully grasped her arm, jerking her around and causing her to drop her necklace back inside her bodice. 

“How sweet,” A voice Belle couldn’t forget rang out in the darkness as Belle struggled against her captor, a tall man clad in black from head to toe. “Still fighting for true love, even to the bitter end.”

Belle glared at the woman sitting stop a tall black horse. “How did you find me?”

The Queen laughed, a deep throaty sound that went well with the rest of the woman. “You really should be nicer to your traveling companions.” She looked over to a group of men standing around a cart, bars surrounding it like a cage. “Take her to the tower.”

“What? No! What are you doing?” Belle shouted as the man that held her began to pull her towards the cage. “I can save him, just let me go to him! I can break his curse!” She tried to bargain, knowing it was what the woman had wanted, but she was only met with more deep laughter. 

“You’ve already tried and failed, that monster’s beyond saving.” Her voice took on a sweeter tone of mocking kindness not so unlike Rumpelstiltskin. “I’m saving you from a lifetime of pain and misery.”

“You can’t keep us apart forever.” Her voice hardened as she was being pushed towards the cage, doing her best to dig her heels into the dirt. “I’ll fight for him.” She said, suddenly slamming her heel into the foot of her captor, hearing him grunt behind her and release her for a brief moment. It was all she needed. “I will never stop fighting for him!” Belle vowed, meeting the Queens gaze as she reached for her necklace. She brought the memory of the great hall back to the front of her mind with full force, throwing it up like a shield against the Queen. Immediately the air around her began to fill with purple smoke, the look of rage overtaking the Queens face immensely satisfying before Belle disappeared. 

***  
However warm her memory of the great hall had been, it was not so now. The hall was cloaked in darkness, no fire in the hearth and no Rumple at the wheel. 

Belle looked around her, turning slowly as she wrapped her arms around herself against the cold emptiness of the place. 

“Rumple?” She called, not liking how small her voice sounded as it echoed off of the stone walls. Part of her was relieved to finally be home, but another part of her would not be satisfied until she saw him. As terrible as he had been throwing her away, as terrible as the things he had said to her had been, she knew in her heart none of it was true. She knew somewhere, deep down, Rumple knew it too, and to find his hall standing empty and cold, like no one had been there in days, made her heart ache. Since her first day there, there had always been a fire in the hearth, always dozens of candles lit to illuminate Rumpelstiltskin’s various treasures. The drapes she had once torn down to let in the natural light were back in place, and even in the darkness she could see a film of dust covering everything, including the long oak table. 

“Rumple!” She called again, beginning to move towards the door way to search the rest of the castle, even though something was beginning to tell her she would not find him. 

Like the great hall, the corridors of the castle all stood dark, but Belle made her way along easily enough, the halls familiar and her eyes long ago adjusted to the darkness. She searched every room she could ever remember seeing him in, even some she didn’t, and eventually made her way up to his tower room. It too stood empty. 

Finally resigning herself to the fact that he was not here, she slowly made her way back down the winding stair case to her room. Or what used to be her room. She hoped her belongings would still be there, though she wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t, or if they had been thrown across the room and destroyed in a fit of Rumpelstiltskin’s rage. She hadn’t thought, up to this point, of the possibility that Rumpelstiltskin really didn’t want her back. Just because it was true love, didn’t mean he had to welcome it. He saw it as a threat to his power, and even if he loved her, he didn’t have to want to love her. He had made as much clear before casting her away. 

Thinking about the awful things he said to her, words woven and forged into sharp barbs mean to wound and cut her, brought tears to her eyes, but she quickly bolstered herself. She lifted her chin and forced the thoughts from her mind. She would find a way to make him listen. She would fight for him. He would have to forcibly remove her to make her leave the castle this time without being heard. Rumpelstiltskin would hear what she had to say. 

She held her head high as she came to her room. He had moved her from the dungeon after giving her the library. “I can’t have my maid catching her death of cold now can I?” He had said, in excuse for his kindness. It wouldn’t do to have the Dark One being accused of being kind to his maid. But he was, and he was rather bad at hiding it. 

The room was a large one, with plush carpet the likes of which Belle had never seen before. The draped were thick to keep out the chill, but could also be drawn back to let the light in. The room itself had been decorated in shades of blue and silver, so unlike that of the rest of the castle which favored crimson and gold. 

The dresser and wardrobe had been full of clothes, from dresses to night things, and a small shelf had stood open, ready to be filled with favorite books from the library. 

Belle steeled herself one more time before pushing the door open, only to find that everything appeared to be just as she had left it. A book still sat waiting for her on her pillow, her nightgown spread at the foot of the bed, and the corner of the blankets turned down waiting for her. 

She was home. This room still belonged to her. The only thing missing was her true love. 

She moved to the edge of the bed to sit and remove her boots. She was a bit surprised that her room had remained untouched, but then she supposed she shouldn’t be. Rumple had never come into her room, not even when he had given it to her. Had her room stood empty all of this time, a sad reminder like the one that held all of his son’s things? The thought made Belles heart clench painfully, remembering the look of utter misery on Rumples face when he had told her of his son. 

She moved quickly then, trying not to dwell on those thoughts. She kicked off her boots, shedding her tight doe skin pants next, and finally her shirts. She moved over to the wash basin that sat atop her dresser, frowning a bit as she looked down into it, empty. The castle had always done her bidding before, would it still? She glanced around and drew a deep breath. “Water?” She asked aloud, before adding a firmer, “Warm.” 

There was a slight prickle of magic in the air before the basin filled with water. When Belle dipped her chilly fingers into the water, it was blessedly warm. 

She washed quickly and ran her brush through her hair. She wanted a bath, but was hesitant to make herself too at home here until she saw Rumple. His magic would provide her all she needed here, but it felt wrong to use it with him absent and not knowing she was here. 

So after she washed she put on one of her favorite dresses, a simple one similar to the blue one she had worn the day she left, but lighter in color with sleeves that came to her elbows. She left her hair to hang loose around her face and shoulders, and slipped on her favorite pair of slippers. 

Once dressed, she made her way back down to the great hall, making sure to grab a pillow and blanket, and of course a book, from her room before she left, determined to stay there until Rumpelstiltskin returned. 

She set herself up on the chaise, after hesitantly asking the hearth for a fire. The hearth had obeyed, flames leaping forth at her command to fill the hall with a soft light. Belle then sat and tried to read her book, but after reading the same sentence five times without being able to recall a single word, she closed it with a heavy sigh, looking over to the spinning wheel that stood too silent in the corner. 

Without really knowing why she got up and moved towards it, reaching her hand out to caress the old wood that was worn smooth after years of use. She gave the wheel a gentle spin, smiling as the familiar creak immediately began to soothe her. She hadn’t really known she had needed soothing until then. 

She stood at the wheel for a while, giving it a gentle spin and listening to it creak to a stop before doing it again, watching the spokes turn. Now she knew how Rumple spent so many hours there. 

With her nerves now properly soothed, she finally began to feel her fatigue, her eyes growing heavy with it when she finally left the wheel. She moved to take her place up again at the chaise, but halfway there her eyes caught the high wing backed chair that Rumple favored and went there instead, picking p her blanket on the way. 

She curled up in the seat, wrapping her blanket around her as she rested her head on the side. The chair smelled faintly of Rumple, a smell she had come to easily identify but unable to describe, and a soft smile lifted the corners of her mouth as she drifted to sleep.


End file.
